3.5 stars

God, I hate the goodreads app... I wrote a long review, something glitched, and now it's gone...

So let's cut to the chase. Ali Hazelwood's writing style in this book was very addictive as usual. But I didn't like any of the characters and felt kind of betrayed by her portrayal of rheumatoid arthritis.

The whole chess part was also very unbelievable and lacked any subtlety or intrigue. It's the Hans Niemann scandal stripped of all the controversy. No, there's no way Mallory cheated. No one questions her ability. Nolan Sawyer, this books younger and hotter version of Magnus Carlsen, doesn't lose his shit and just accepts his defeat? There aren't any crazy theories online about how she could've cheated. We're just supposed to believe that an intuitive player like her who hasn't played chess in over four years beats the best player in the world without any preparation? And it's not just a lucky win but plain talent? She wins against all the other players who have dedicated their whole lives to chess since they were children? It's just too unbelievable. Moreover, it spoils all the fun. The whole Niemann/Carlsen feud was so huge because all those theories were crazy and fun enough to make us "normal" people who don't care about chess care. I doubt that anyone outside of the chess world would care about Mallory to be honest..

But then again. Who am I to judge? I must be the world's worst chess player.